Dead Signal is the latest horror game from Reflect Studios, the creator behind Rides with Strangers and the Welcome to the Game series.
In Dead Signal, the developer expertly blends in the creepy atmosphere and encounters of Welcome to the Game II with ‘I’m On Observation Duty’ mechanics. It creates a very unique and terrifying combination.
Plus, the recently released 2.0 updates add a huge amount of new features – including items (and a new currency with which you can purchase them), new ways to report anomalies, three new cameras, the long-awaited Nightmare difficulty and much more.
This update makes an already difficult game even harder. To increase your chances of success in Dead Signal, we’ve updated our original guide to help you escape the various enemies, find enough anomalies to meet your quotas, and beat the game.
Anomalies/Events
The core gameplay of Dead Signal revolves around the cameras. You want to flick through the different cameras and spot anything that wasn’t there before. These range from being fairly obvious – such as a person in the room – to tiny differences such as a mobile phone on top of a distant shelf.
Report Categories
Firstly, let’s talk about how the reporting system actually works. There’s nothing worse than wasting time making incorrect reports.
Here are the different types of report, and what sort of anomalies you should look out for:
Access Point: Open doors or windows.
Hack: Electronics such as laptops, phones and tablets.
High Value: Expensive items such as packages/parcels, wallets, credit cards and keys.
Defence: Firearms or dogs.
Peep: Normal people that are sleeping, bathing, using the toilet, etc. This excludes enemies that you can spot on the cameras (Mr Delfaco or the Breather) and the hacker, who is classified as suspicious.
Suspicious: Anything that seems out of place or sketchy – such as suspicious white vans, sketchy people (such as the hacker), duffel bags, body parts and blood.
Reporting Events
Whenever you spot an anomaly, you can choose a report category and send it to The Shade (your employer). He will soon let you know whether there actually was an event on that camera or not. If there was, then you earn a point towards your quota for that hour, as well as 3 DOS-Coins on normal difficulty.
If you exceed the quota for the hour, any additional reports will roll over to the next hour, giving you a headstart. On the other hand, if you do not meet the hourly quota, it will be game over.
With the 2.0 update, you can now also report specific events to either the Lotus or Axecrypt. You can report High Value items to Lotus, and she will pay you up to 16 DOS-Coins. However, you cannot report the same event to The Shade, meaning that you have to choose between earning a large payout or working towards your quota. You should try to send reports to Lotus semi-regularly, otherwise she will send you an angry message and break all of the cameras. If your signal booster is in a bad (red) location, then it’ll take ages to fix all of them, and you will likely fall behind on your quota.
Axecrypt allows you to hack into electronic items such as phones and laptops. You can do so by pressing on the item in the camera. You then have to complete a Dead by Daylight style quick-time event a couple times in a row.
There are 3 difficulties of hack, and the hardest difficulty hacks will earn you up to 125 DOS-Coins, which is almost enough for some of the best upgrades in the game.
Tips for Spotting Events
- If you are struggling to spot events, try to save up enough DOS-Coins to purchase the A.I.C.S item. This will scan all the cameras, and notify which cameras have an active event.
2. Ultimately, the more you play the game, the easier it will be to spot events. If you’d prefer an extensive list of all possible event spawns, I’d check out this guide on Steam.
3. Always pay attention to the furthest point from the camera – due to how the perspective works, events might appear much smaller than those at the nearer parts to the camera.
4. There are some events that can spawn in the shadows of the cameras (especially the Storage Lot Locker B and Motel Room B). As such, I’d recommend turning up your brightness, as this should make spotting particular events a little more fair.
5. There is an annoying occurrence which can occur due to how events spawn. Events appear for a short period of time – during which you can report them – and then disappear. It’s possible for events to disappear whilst your report is pending, rendering the report incorrect. However, events do not disappear whilst you have the camera open. As such, I’d recommend leaving the camera with the active event open until the Shade (or the Lotus) gives you the all-clear.
Packages
Another way of earning quota points is by delivering packages. You will sometimes receive an email from the Shade, asking you to pick up a package from the rooftop, and deliver it to someone in your building.
You can only miss 2 package deliveries (1 in nightmare mode) before a game over on the 3rd miss. As such, I’d make sure to always get the packages at the beginning when the quotas are smaller, and use your “misses” in the final hours when you’re busier.
It takes a lot of time to make the package deliveries, especially with the elevator being so slow (although you can now speed it up!). This means that you should do your best to sync up the package collection with the computer’s “dead signal” event. Since both require you to go to the roof, you can effectively kill two birds with one stone.
Of course, you won’t be able to get the package delivery and dead signal to line up every time. However, if you leave the package delivery as late as possible – within reason of course – then there’s a higher chance that the dead signal event triggers at the same time.
Plus, leaving the package collection as late as possible will hypothetically postpone the next delivery for longer!
If you forget where you are delivering a package to, you don’t have to take the elevator back to your room and check your emails. As long as you know the floor number, only the correct apartment will have the ‘place for delivery’ button.
One hour in-game is roughly equivalent to 15 minutes in real life. This means that you have around 5 minutes real-time to deliver a package with a 20-minute in-game deadline. Similarly, a 30-minute deadline gives you around 7.5 minutes in real life, and a 45-minute deadline gives you just over 11 minutes in real life to make the delivery.
How to Evade the Enemies
Dead Signal is not just a game about playing spot-the-difference on the computer. There are 4 different enemies that will be hunting you down at the same time.
These NPCs will appear consistently throughout the night, but can be evaded through different techniques. It’s really important to know how to fend off against each of them, otherwise you’ll probably end up having a rough time.
How the Lights Affect Enemy Spawns
Before we get into the 4 enemies, let’s quickly discuss how the number of lights on affects the spawns of enemies. The more lights on in the apartment, the lower the chance for the Noir to spawn, but the higher the chance for Lucas’ laser to aim into your room. The opposite is true for fewer lights on.
So, should you turn off the lights or keep them on? I guess it’s sort of up to you.
You can either turn off most of the lights, and have a higher chance of the Noir spawning. Or, you can leave on the lights and deal with Lucas’ laser more often.
I personally leave on most of the lights, and turn them off when I see Lucas’ laser, as the Male Noir can spawn in some annoying locations and catch you off guard.
Lucas The Hitman
Let’s start with Lucas, the hitman. Lucas should be a familiar figure for those of you who have played the Welcome to the Game series. However, this time, he brings not only a pistol, but also a sniper rifle. He can attack you in your apartment and on the roof.
In Your Apartment
Firstly, you want to keep Lucas out of your building. The best way to do so is by keeping your room locked at all times. For some reason, the protagonist has the world’s worst lock which resets every 15 minutes or so. Periodically check that your front door is locked (shown by a green light on the door). If it’s unlocked, make sure to quickly input the new password into the keypad.
Furthermore, make sure to close your door whilst travelling throughout the building. Lucas is able to enter your apartment whilst you are away and kill you on your return, so always close your door on your way to your elevator.
However, this is not the only thing you have to keep an eye out for. Lucas will periodically try to shoot you from across the street with his sniper. Don’t solely focus on your laptop, and turn around every 15-20 seconds to check for a laser. If you wait too long, you will be shot as you stand up.
If you do see a red laser, it’s now time to hide. Staying clear of the laser’s path, try to turn off as many lights as possible. I usually turn off the desk light, the living room light and the bedroom light. In the bedroom, you can hide under the bed. With these three lights off, Lucas will go away after around 30 seconds real-time.
Most importantly, do not turn on your flashlight. Lucas has a thermal scope on his rifle, and will immediately shoot you through the walls if you turn it on.
If you happen to get stuck on the opposite side of the room, you are able to hide in the bathtub as well.
Another thing to avoid is going to the rooftop when there is a laser. Lucas will spawn on the rooftop and kill you as you leave the elevator.
On the Roof
From his vantage point, Lucas can also shoot you while you are on the roof. It’s important to keep looking out for lasers, and always save some stamina if you need to run at any point.
So, where are you running to? Well, if you see the laser, there’s three places you can go. You should pick the best one based on your situation:
- If you are collecting the package, there is a hiding space nearby to duck behind.
- If you are moving the dead signal antenna, there is also a hiding space nearby.
- If you are closest to the elevator when you see the laser, try to run to safety inside the elevator.
Again, remember to not turn your flashlight on. Lucas will likely shoot you, and it’ll be game over.
If you follow these rules to a tee, you should be safe. I’ve had a few times where I’ve died to Lucas despite thinking I did everything right. In one case, Lucas killed me in my apartment when I returned, and I believe it was because he began to aim at my apartment whilst I was waiting for the elevator. To avoid this annoying (and pretty unfair) death, I do as follows:
- Go to the hallway and call the elevator.
- If the elevator is on a lower level (and will take a long time to appear), I will wait by the front door.
- This is to ensure the laser doesn’t spawn as I’m in the hallway.
- I run to the elevator as soon as it arrives.
The Noir
The Noir are another familiar foe from Welcome to the Game II. They are part of Adam’s criminal organisation, but unlike Lucas, they will not instantly kill you if you see them.
If you encounter the Noir, you need to follow the procedures below – but importantly, the steps are different depending on if it’s the Male Noir or the Female Noir.
The Male Noir
The Male Noir usually spawns somewhere in your apartment. Sometimes he’s right behind you, but he also can spawn in the bedroom and the bathroom. Here’s some of the places where he can spawn:
- Next to the TV
- In the middle of the kitchen
- Behind your sofa
- In the bathroom
- In the bedroom (in front of the bed)
The Male Noir can also spawn in the corridors of your building and on the rooftop.
If you see the Male Noir, follow these steps:
- Flash your flashlight at him.
- Turn around to face away from him.
- Wait 10 seconds.
That’s easy enough to get rid of him. One thing to avoid is Sprinting whilst a Noir is active – this includes both towards and away from them, as they will kill you.
Whilst you are searching for events, I’d recommend constantly checking around your room (every 20-30 seconds or so) to make sure the Noir isn’t behind you. As far as I’m aware, once a Noir spawns in your room, you have 30 seconds to spot them before they will attack.
The Female Noir
The Female Noir typically spawns on the rooftop, or creepily waiting at the ends of the corridors. Because of this, I always check to the left and right when leaving my apartment, as she spawns there quite often!
With the Female Noir, the process is similar to the Male Noir’s but is slightly different:
- Approach the Female Noir and stand around 3-5 feet in front of her.
- You know you are close enough when she slightly tilts her head to the side.
- Turn around and face away from her.
- When she says the phrase “Don’t move”, wait for 10 seconds and do not move your mouse whatsoever.
It’s really important to wait for this vocal cue, as that is when the 10 second timer begins.
As with the Male Noir, do not use your Sprint button to approach the Female Noir, as she will kill you.
Again, if you follow this procedure, you should be good to go.
Mr Delfaco
The third enemy you’ll come up against is Mr Delfaco, a brand-new addition to the Welcome to the Game universe.
Mr Delfaco only activates once you see him on the cameras. If you switch cameras within 0.75 seconds after seeing him, you can successfully avoid activating him. Whilst it’s not the easiest task, just have faith in your reaction time and hopefully you can avoid him. If you are skilled (and lucky) enough to avoid him, it’s not the last time you will see him throughout the night. He will spawn on different cameras (including broken cameras) periodically.
Once he is activated, there are three ways he can attack you – in the hallways, in your apartment and on the roof.
In Your Apartment
You need to keep your ears out for his signature whistling. If you hear whistling, it means that he’s near your door. At this point, try to hide either under the bed or in the bathtub as quickly as possible. It’s also beneficial to turn off some lights on the way, as he will leave quicker with fewer lights on.
I’m not sure of the exact timings, but just wait until you hear him leaving your apartment to exit your hiding spot.
In the Hallways
Unfortunately, Mr Delfaco can also appear in other parts of the apartment building. He can spawn on any floor (aside from your floor – the 9th floor).
He will appear from the door of Apartment C – the apartment at the end of the hallway. He spawns once you are around halfway down the corridor.
When this happens, your only choice is to quickly run back to the safety of the elevator before he can catch you.
If you are delivering a package when you know that Mr Delfaco is activated, simply walk towards the middle of the hallway. If Mr Delfaco comes out of Apartment C, you will have enough stamina to sprint all the way back to the elevator.
It can be really annoying if you need to deliver a package to Apartment C and Mr Delfaco tries to attack you. In this case, you can return to the same floor and safely deliver the parcel – he doesn’t stick around after he chases you.
On the Roof
If you are on the roof and hear a dinging noise from the elevator, this means that Mr Delfaco is approaching. You should hide in one of two hiding spots on the roof (one is near the package spawn point and the other is by the control panel where you fix the dead signal).
The Breather
The final (and newest) enemy in the game is the Breather, added in the 2.0 update. For reference, the Breather is only available when playing on Nightmare difficulty.
Like Mr Delfaco, he will be activated once you spot him on one of the cameras.
As you might notice when playing Nightmare difficulty, there is an additional camera that displays a feed of your hallway – this is essentially your ‘Breather camera’.
He will spawn in your hallway on the camera. Once he spawns, you only have 45 seconds to check the camera – if you don’t check it within this time, you will die as you sit down or leave the apartment.
When you see him on the camera, you should run to your door and brace against it. Just like in Welcome to the Game I and II, this will activate a mini-game.
When he tries to push your door open, hold the door until he lets go. He’ll try this a few times before going away, and you will be able to hear his footsteps and the elevator which signals he is going away.
Just like in the Welcome to the Game series, there is a stamina bar, meaning that you should only hold the door down whilst he is pushing. Otherwise, you won’t have enough stamina to keep him out.
Finding the Best Signal Booster Spot
Another new mechanic is the signal booster. You can place this on the walls on every floor of the apartment building. There are 3 different spots – Red, Yellow and Green.
There’s only one area of the building that counts as green, and 3 that count as yellow. This means they are pretty difficult – and potentially time-consuming – to locate.
The signal booster affects how quickly the Shade (and other NPCs) respond to reports. With the green speeds, the Shade replies virtually instantly.
It also affects how quickly you can repair cameras that are broken.
Annoyingly, the spawns for the green/yellow/red spots change throughout the night. This means that you might find a green spot for a while, and then it suddenly switches to a red.
Since it’s pretty valuable to have a yellow or green spot, it’s worth spending some time finding a good signal. However, don’t fret trying to find the green spot when you already have a yellow spot – it’s really not worth it since the location will just change anyways.
The Best Items and Upgrades
One of the biggest additions with the 2.0 update is the Shop. You can now buy upgrades which make the game significantly easier (although the best ones are pretty expensive). Here’s the options for items, and whether I think they are worth your trouble:
A.I.C.S – 100 DOS-Coins – this scans all active cameras for ongoing events. This has a 560 second cooldown. I think this is one of the best upgrades (and it’s relatively cheap too). Once you know which cameras have active events, it’s way easier to spot and report them.
A.I.R.S – 25 DOS-Coins – this scans the current camera for ongoing events. This is a one-time use. I don’t think this is particularly useful, aside from if you have some spare DOS-Coins at the end of the game and time is running out. Chances are, there won’t be any active event on your camera, and it’ll be a waste of DOS-Coins.
CodeBlip – 40 DOS-Coins – this plays a sound cue whenever the door code changes. I feel like this is a pretty good upgrade, but sort of useless since you already have to constantly get up to check on the Noir and Lucas’ laser. It’s a good combination with PHLIR e137b and PHLIR L.L.S 3RPro items however, as it means you won’t have to get out of your chair very often.
Insta CamFix – 15 DOS-Coins – this instantly repairs the current camera, and it is a one time use. If you’re desperately needing to see whatever is on the camera, then perhaps this is a good purchase. I’d only consider getting this if your signal booster is on a red spot. The yellow and green spots repair the cameras fairly quick, to the extent that it’d probably be quicker to just repair the camera than to open the shop and purchase the upgrade.
All Cam Fix – 50 DOS-Coins – this instantly repairs all cameras. This is a good purchase if Lotus has broken all of the cameras and you have a red signal booster location. If you have a yellow or green signal booster, it’s probably worth saving the money as you can fix the cameras pretty fast.
XDR-557b – 225 DOS-Coins – this reduces the chance for Dead Signals to happen. I’m not too familiar with what percentage this upgrade reduces the chance of a dead signal, but from the price-point, I’d guess that it’s a pretty valuable upgrade.
PHLIR e137b – 150 DOS-Coins – this plays a beeping sound if the temperature increases in your apartment (signalling that a Noir has spawned in your room). This is a great upgrade, as it helps you manage the threats, especially towards the later parts of the game
PHLIR L.L.S 3RPro – 150 DOS-COins – this plays a beeping sound if Lucas’ laser is active. Again, this is a pretty useful purchase in my opinion.
Every item has its use, but I tend to go for the A.I.C.S to help with the reports, and either of the PHLIR upgrades to notify me if Lucas or the Noir are there. Of course, it’s also good to have a spare 50 DOS-Coins lying around in case you disappoint Lotus and she breaks all of the cameras.
Strategy and Gameplay Tips
1. Find your Flashlight
There’s a couple different flashlight spots that your flashlight can spawn. The flashlight is essential for the game (not only to see, but also to ward off the Male Noir), so you need to find it as soon as possible. It can spawn:
- On the computer desk
- On the table next to the front door
- On the TV stand
- In the bathroom cabinet
- On the kitchen counter
- On the table next to the bed
- On the table next to the sofa
2. Keep Checking Your Room
This tip should be obvious for veterans of Welcome to the Game fans, but it’s worth reminding everyone. You need to constantly stand up from your desk to check for threats in your room. Usually I check for these three things when I leave the computer:
- Look around for the Noir. He can spawn in your apartment in a variety of locations, including the bedroom and bathroom. As mentioned earlier, I think it’s a good investment to purchase the PHLIR e137b item, as you won’t have to check the bathroom and bedroom as often (which can be pretty time-consuming).
- Check for Lucas’ laser. If you just sit at your computer without ever standing up, it’s likely that Lucas is going to shoot you with his rifle. Thus, look for the red laser through the window behind you, and follow the steps mentioned earlier if needed. If you’re struggling with this, purchase the PHLIR L.L.S 3RPro item, which will alert you of any lasers.
- Make sure that the room is still locked. For some reason, you have the absolute worst lock in the world, and so it will unlock at multiple times throughout the night. The red light indicates that your door is unlocked, and this means that Lucas can attack you if you leave it unlocked for too long.
I tend to check these 3 things around every 15-30 seconds of being on the computer. If you don’t check often enough, it’s likely that you will die to one of the different threats.
3. Maximise the Early Game
At the start of Dead Signal, it’s vital to get in as many reports as possible. This will work towards your quota (and hopefully build up a respectable carry over of reports) and earn you some money (especially if you send some High Value reports to the Lotus or complete some electronic hacks for Axecrypt).
As I mentioned earlier, I think it’s best to use this early money to purchase the item that scans the cameras for active events, or the item that alerts you of the Noir or Lucas.
Plus, it’s important that you deliver all of the packages early on. Save the 3 packages which you can miss until the final hours, where it’s tricky to even meet the quota. You have way more free time and safety at the beginning, so use that grace period to make some deliveries!
4. Speed up the Elevator (at the right times)
With the 2.0 update, you can turn off the elevator’s safety mechanism and greatly speed up the elevator. However, this comes with a 1% risk that the elevator will fail everytime you use it. On the off chance that the elevator crashes, it will be game over.
If we quickly get into the maths (using binomial distribution):
- Using the elevator 100 times gives you a 63% chance that you will die on at least one of the those rides.
Hopefully my maths is correct, but nevertheless, that’s a little too high for my liking.. As such, I’d recommend turning the elevator on at the start of the game to maximise your early game reports, and when looking for the best signal booster spots. This is because you might have to look through a bunch of different floors for a green or yellow spot, so it’s worth having the faster elevator for that.
Conclusion
And that’s been our complete Dead Signal guide. The game is really, really tricky and it’s definitely a learning curve.
The more you play and get a feel of the mechanics, timings and events, then the longer you will survive and hopefully beat the game!
We hope you found the guide useful, and while you’re here, why don’t you check out some of the other horror game guides we have written.
